|
Moonstruck (1987)
In Norman Jewison's quirky romantic comedy based on
John Patrick Shanley's Oscar-winning screenplay:
- the Brooklyn-Italian Castorini family, including
repressed 37 year-old Italian widowed bookkeeper Loretta Castorini
(Best Actress Oscar-winner Cher), her parents: a cheating father
Cosmo (Best Supporting Actor nominee Vincent Gardenia) (with mistress
Mona (Anita Gillette)) and philosophical mother Rose (Best Supporting
Actress winner Olympia Dukakis), and her crusty Italian-speaking,
dog-loving Grandfather (Fiodor Chaliapin)
- the scene of widowed Loretta being formally asked
for her hand in marriage by Momma's boy Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello),
while having dinner together in the fancy Grand Ticino restaurant;
she insisted that it be done right: "It's for luck. A man proposes
marriage to a woman, he should kneel down...You propose marriage
to a woman, you should offer her an engagement ring" - she allowed
him to use his "pinky ring"
- the revelation by Johnny that he hadn't spoken for
five years to his younger brother (Loretta's future brother-in-law)
- the never-married, one-handed bakery operator Ronny Cammareri (Nicolas
Cage); Ronny blamed Johnny for indirectly causing the accident that
maimed his hand; with the marriage planned for a month in the future
(because Johnny had to visit his dying mother in Sicily), at the
airport, Johnny requested that she invite Ronny to the wedding, telling
her: "There was some bad blood"
- the scene of Loretta informing her father Cosmo that
she was engaged to be married and his response: "You did this
once before. It didn't work out...Bad luck...Don't get married again.
It don't work out for you" - because her husband was accidentally
struck by a bus and killed; he cautioned her about marrying Johnny: "He's
a big baby... I don't like his face. I don't like his lips. When
he smiles, I can't see his teeth. What is he hiding?"; Loretta
even admitted that she only like Johnny, but didn't love him
- Loretta's first encounter with the sweaty and spiteful
Ronny in front of the hot bakery ovens, when Ronny expressed how
tortured he was that his brother was getting married: "I have
no life. My brother Johnny took my life from me...And now he's gettin'
married. He has his. He's getting his, and he wants me to come. What
is life?...They say bread is life. And I- I bake bread, bread, bread.
I sweat and shovel this stinkin' dough in and out of this hot hole
in the wall, and I-I should be so happy, huh, sweetie? You want me
to come to the wedding of my brother Johnny? Where's my wedding?
Chrissy, over by the wall, bring me the big knife.... I'm gonna cut
my throat!...I want you to watch me kill myself so you can tell my
brother Johnny on his wedding day, okay? Chrissy! Bring me the big
knife!"
- the climax of their meeting when the tormented Ronny
screamed: "I lost my hand, I lost my bride. Johnny has his hand!
Johnny has his bride! You want me to take my heartbreak, put it away
and forget? (pause) Is it just a matter of time before a man opens
his eyes and gives up his one dream, his one dream of happiness?"
- the scene of Ronny sharing a bottle of wine with recently-engaged
Loretta; she offered unsolicited advice to him about his life: ("The
big part of you has no words, and it's a wolf...And now, now you're
afraid because you know the big part of you is a wolf that has the
courage to bite off its own hand to save itself from the trap of
the wrong love. That's why there's been no woman since that wrong
woman. Okay? You're scared to death of what the wolf will do if you
try and make that mistake again"); their conversation ended
with accusations (Ronny: "A bride without a head!" Loretta:
"A wolf without a foot!"), the toppling of the kitchen table,
and a very passionate kiss between the two of them - he then carried
her to his bed for more kisses and an overnight stay (and tryst)
- the next morning - after - Ronny's proclamation and
confession of love to Loretta - but her immediate reaction was that
she regretted sleeping with him: she delivered two tremendous slaps
across the face and screamed: "Snap out of it!"
- after seeing La Boheme at the Metropolitan
Opera with her, Ronny's declaration of his cynical views on love:
("We're not here to make things perfect. Snowflakes are perfect,
stars are perfect. Not us! Not US! We are here to ruin ourselves
and...and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and...and
DIE") and his pleading to Loretta to come upstairs with him:
("Now I want you to come upstairs and...and GET in my bed...")
|
|
|
Ronny's Proposal to Loretta ("Will you marry
me?")
|
Sealed With a Kiss
|
Confused and Stunned Family Onlookers
|
- in the climactic breakfast proposal scene, Loretta's
angry remark when Johnny returned to break off their engagement
(due to his dying mother's recovery) and then reassured her: ("In
time, you will see that this is the best thing") and her retort
back that she agreed with him: ("The engagement is off...
In time, you'll drop dead and I'll come to your funeral in a red
dress!")
- then, after Ronny immediately proposed to Loretta
("Will you marry me?"), she told her mother: "I love
him awful" and Johnny uttered a stunned "WHAT?!"
|
Johnny's Formal Marriage Proposal to Loretta
Loretta's Father Concerned About Her Impending Marriage
("Bad luck")
Spiteful Ronny at the Bakery - Threatening to Kill
Himself with a "Big Knife"
"I lost my hand. I lost my bride"
Shouting at Each Other
Passionate Kiss Between Loretta and Ronny
Loretta: "Snap out of it!"
Ronny: "Get in my bed!"
|